Brighton MP blasts Labour’s ‘chaotic and incoherent’ education policy

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas has ridiculed Labour’s announcement that it would cap university fees at £6,000 should it return to power at the next election.

Labour campaigned last year against the Conservative’s move to increase the cap on tuition fees to £9,000 and Ms Lucas believes Labour’s announcement is a ‘feeble attempt to persuade voters that Labour will try to be just a little bit better than the Conservatives’.

The policy pledge came from Ed Miliband during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool this week, but his Green Party counterpart says it is ‘hardly the action of a strong Opposition’.

Ms Lucas said: “Ed Miliband’s announcement that his party would cap university tuition fees at £6,000 rather than the Coalition’s £9,000 is a feeble attempt to persuade voters that Labour will try to be just a little bit better than the Conservatives.

“This is hardly the action of a strong Opposition, and merely serves to expose the gaping holes in Labour’s chaotic and incoherent education policy.

“The truth is that it was Labour politicians who got the ball rolling on higher tuition costs, and only now are they realising – too late in the day and in the face of huge public opposition – that prohibitively expensive fees will have a serious impact on the prospects of our young people.”

The Brighton Pavilion MP believes Labour should be proposing a tax on the top 4% of UK companies, which would generate enough money to abolish tuition fees altogether.

She said: “For a real alternative, Labour should look no further than the UCU’s proposal for a small business education tax levied on the top 4% of UK companies.

“This would generate enough annually to abolish tuition fees and increase UK investment in higher education – while still keeping the UK’s main corporation tax below that of France, Japan and the US.”

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on September 27, 2011. Filed under Featured,Green Party,Labour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry